Astral Imaging at Dogwood Ridge Observatory

Latitude: 37°48'51.0" N"
Longitude:78°23'41.0"W
Scottsville, Virginia 24590

 

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IC5146 - The Cocoon Nebula

Image Information

Quoted From APOD
Explanation: How did this nebula get created? The Cocoon Nebula, cataloged as IC 5146, is a strikingly beautiful nebula located about 4,000 light years away toward the constellation of Cygnus. Inside the Cocoon is a newly developing open cluster of stars. Like other stellar nurseries, the Cocoon Nebula is, at the same time, an emission nebula, a reflection nebula, and an absorption nebula. Speculation based on recent measurements holds that the massive star in the center  opened a hole in an existing molecular cloud through which much of the glowing material flows. The same star, which formed about 100,000 years ago, now provides the energy source for much of the emitted and reflected light from this nebula.

 

 

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This image is compiled from 25 - 15 minute RGB images and 97 - 15 minute Luminance images.  A total of 43 hours of data was used. All data was acquired using MaxImDl/CCD version 4.60.  Due to the large number of images, all processing was done while in Windows XP Pro 64 bit to take advantage of the full 8 GBs of RAM on the computer. Images were reduced, De-Bloomed, Auto Star Aligned and saved in MaxIm. I used Mira AP for the final alignment of all image frames. The data was then brought into CCDStack where sigma reject was performed to produce the master image combining the RGB layers into the color image. Photoshop CS 2 was used for curves and levels.  The image data was collected over September 9-21, 2007.

Equipment and Location Information

Date September 9-21, 2007
Location Dogwood Ridge Observatory
Optics OGS10" RC @ f/9
Mount Astro Physics AP1200GTO
Camera SBIG ST10XME
Conditions Temperature middle  40's - 50's with very moderate  seeing. Transparency good to moderate.

    
  Last Modified :01/23/09 03:40 AM